Thank to the funding of the Italian Cooperation  Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Palestinian Department of Antiquities of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and under the scientific supervision of Father Michele Piccirillo of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, in 1999 CISS established in Jericho a Workshop for Mosaic Restoration. The Workshop trained six Palestinian young people to cover the needs of a number of different pieces of mosaic in different sites all around Palestine.

Carla Benelli,
CISS

Michele Piccirillo,
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum

J. Breteché
European Commission Tecnical Assistance Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip

During the last four years, the project was extended to other Middle Eastern countries. In August and September 2003, a course in ancient mosaics restoration  titled Bilad Al-Sham  was held at the Madaba Mosaics School (Jordan) and at the Shahba Museum (Syria) in cooperation with the Jordanian and Syrian Department of Antiquities. The project was generously supported by the European Commission Technical Assistance Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. Fifteen trainees from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria participated in the course.

The exhibition presents the copies of ancient mosaics representing different Palestinian cities and prepared by the Palestinian team participating in the Bilad Al-Sham course. Panels and pictures illustrating the work undertaken during the course are on view throughout the exhibition.

In this room you see four modern copies of ancient mosaic floors with representations of Palestinian cities. The originals are found in the Church of St. Stephen in Umm al-Rasas (Jordan).

Panel with explanations about the restoration works conducted on the mosaic floor of the Church of St. George at Kh. al-Mukhayyat (Mount Nebo - Jordan).

Architect Osama Hamdan introduces the first visitors to the exposition.

Among the other things, the exhibition aims to increase, among the local population, the awareness of the Palestinian cultural heritage and of the importance of its preservation.